Freebass - It's ABeautiful Life

Fri 31st Dec, 2010 in Music Reviews

It’s A Beautiful Life was the record that belonged “In the fucking bargain bin before it’s even released” according to Mani aka Gary Mounfield (The Stone Roses, Primal Scream).

Mani subsequently apologised for such comments but it seemed like Freebass was a good idea some five years ago when three Mancunian bass players walked into a bar. For those who don’t know they were: Mani, Andy Rourke (The Smiths) and Peter Hook (Joy Division, New Order) with singer, Gary Briggs (The Strays) to later join the fold. The punch line however was certainly not a funny one, as there was some love lost between Hooky and his bandmates in Freebass.

It’s A Beautiful Life features 13 tracks (10 original studio cuts plus three bonus songs) that come in at just under the hour mark. Also included with the album is an unnecessary second disc containing instrumentals of the songs. The press release describes the music as drawing together the individuals’ diverse influences including: Northern Soul, dub, Krautrock and more, and if we add some new wave then that basically sums up the majority of the disc.

There’s no denying that this was one ambitious project as it has more musical twists and turns then you can poke a stick at (something perhaps borne out of the way the songs were written after initially beginning life as free-form jams). But it also feels like perhaps a little too much was thrown into the proverbial pot from elsewhere. The result being that you’ve heard fragments of most of it in lots of other places before so that there is no real mainstay of Freebass’ sound except perhaps Hooky’s high bass work (but then, we’ve all heard that before in Joy Division and New Order, right?)

Not Too Late has New Order’s Love Vigilantes -style air keys, the Hookster’s signature bass lines and is plain old, easy-on-the-ears pop. The Only Ones Alone meanwhile, is like a pleasant Foo Fighters ballad and Bury Me Standing could be by R.E.M. We’re then swept off into dub land on Stalingrad even though the terrain has been better explored by the likes of The Beautiful Girls and Gorillaz. Plan B features some crazy theremin while Kill Switch pt. 141 sits somewhere between Bowie’s space oddities and simpler Krautrock noises.

Whereas Hooky’s former bandmates have gone on to greener pastures with *Bad Lieutenant, Hooky’s endeavour seems to have been a far more messy affair. It suffers from tackling far too many genres while having little regard for creating something fresh.